Monday, May 31, 2010

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1977 of film director William Castle. He's best known for his "gimmicky" promotions, for example, taking out insurance policies against the possibility of someone dying of fright during his film Macabre. He has a Facebook page. The Guardian calls him "the godfather of interactive cinema." The only one of his films that I have a blog post on is Mr. Sardonicus. I haven't seen any of his other works, but I'm sure I'll get around to them.

In this latest installment in the endlessly entertaining series, Precious Ramotswe faces problems both personal and professional.

The first is the potential demise of an old friend, her tiny white van. Recently, it has developed a rather troubling knock, but she dare not consult the estimable Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni for fear he may condemn the vehicle. Meanwhile, her talented assistant Mma Makutsi is plagued by the reappearance of her nemesis, Violet Sephotho, who has taken a job at the Double Comfort Furniture store whose proprietor is none other than Phuti Radiphuti, Mma Makutsi’s fiancé. Finally, the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency has been hired to explain the unexpected losing streak of a local football club, the Kalahari Swoopers. But with Mma Ramotswe on the case, it seems certain that everything will be resolved satisfactorily

Friday, May 28, 2010

We watched this movie last night at the Paradiso theater, and I started to title this post The Paradiso Stinks but changed my mind. I'll be watching my movies in other theaters from now on, though.

Iron Man 2 (2010), obviously, is the sequel to Iron Man. This one substitutes Don Cheadle for Terrence Howard (I'd love to know the story behind that bit of weirdness) in that role and gives us Mickey Rourke as this film's villain. It was just the same as Iron Man, only less so. It was fun to watch but not as much fun as the first one.

trailer:

Roger Ebert likes it and says, "You want a sequel, you got a sequel. "Iron Man 2," directed like the first one by Jon Favreau, gets the job done." Variety says, "isn't as much fun as its predecessor, but by the time the smoke clears, it'll do." Slant Magazine opens with this: "Upgraded with the latest CGI hardware but also more shoddy screenwriting software than its system can withstand, Iron Man 2 is an example of subtraction by addition." The New York Times says it "fulfills the basic requirements of the genre, which can be summed up as more of the same, with emphasis on more."

Moria gives it 4 stars and much praise. Roger Ebert wants to like it, saying, "The best approach is to sit there and let it happen to you; see it in the moment..." Slant Magazine calls it "a galumphing bacchanal of illusionist clutter that's frequently unwieldy but rarely less than deeply felt." The Guardian says it's for Gilliam fans only and adds, "Despite the brilliant moments, there is a fundamental lack of dramatic traction here and the surrealism creates an inert flabbiness in its already chaotic story." The New York Times review talks a lot about Heath Ledger. NPR says it "isn't easy to follow, but it's fun to look at." Variety says Gilliam "has made a pretty good thing out of a very bad situation". Wired says the film "wobbles beneath the weight of its own shaggy-dog fairy tale." BBC reports, "The critics at Cannes loved it, but most cinema-goers would need to see it more than once to start untangling the multiple themes."

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Don't panic! Today is Towel Day, a day set aside in memory of Douglas Adams. I'd have carried my towel with me, but I had a medical procedure done and I didn't think my towel would be welcome. I had it close at hand for the rest of the day. There's a Facebook event.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Peter Riley can't get his book published and is hoping the buzz from this contest will attract a publisher's interest. The book Universes can be read online for free. Starting in July, the author will award money to folks who correctly answer questions about it.

I've looked at the page he has set up for reader reviews, and he sounds a bit delicate to me. Now, I can be a bit delicate myself, so I'm not faulting him for that, but I wonder at the wisdom of providing open space on his site for reviews of his book if he's gonna critique the critiques. At one point, he criticizes the grammar and word choice of one the reviewers. He has what he calls a "rant" posted and offers this:

Just tone it down, folks. Write with an air of civility. Don’t give unsolicited advice, which is worth the money I didn’t pay for it. Try to be clearer in making your points, please.

These are the posting guidelines from the top of that page:

This is a place where you can express your views of the novel, Universes, or the novelette, 2084. Please read a substantial amount before contributing here, telling how much you have read. Please be careful to avoid "spoilers" that give away too much about the story. You can write up to 10,000 characters, or about 1,200 words. Literary controversy is fine, but please keep the discussion polite and intelligent.

He also says,

And no, thanks all the same, but I did not, and would not, ask for the evaluations of a group of other strivers. What are their qualifications? I didn’t ask my Aunt Harriet either. I didn’t discuss the work with friends, wanting no ill-informed, unqualified advice that might skew my labours....I believe it is an excellent book, and this opinion, my own, in the end is the one that matters to me, as should be the case with every serious writer.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Though puffins endured elsewhere in their historic range—the North Atlantic coasts of Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Britain—by the 1960s the puffin was all but forgotten in Maine....“After 100 years of absence and nine years of working toward this goal,” Kress wrote in the [1981] island logbook that evening, “puffins are again nesting at Eastern Egg Rock—a Fourth of July celebration I’ll never forget.”

Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances - the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section - has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost sun, Byr risks losing himself. There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace... or to the brink of annihilation.

SFSite says it's "the most enjoyable Culture novel since Player of Games."

the proof of concept for an all new feature film trilogy. Azureus is the story of a young man who after escaping death and enduring a life changing journey - matures into a heroic freedom fighter.Azureus Rising is an epic tale of self discovery, obligation and love against all odds.

Quiet Earth says it's "cliched but well done". SciFiSquad says it "is not a real film, but after watching this proof of concept footage, you will wish that it were."

Here's the first couple of minutes of it, since I can't find an embeddable trailer:

Roger Ebert gives it 2 stars. Variety says, "John Sturges' direction is sufficiently compelling to keep guns popping and bodies falling." The New York Times says it's "modestly decent ... almost until the climax".

Friday, May 21, 2010

Sukiyaki Western Django is a 2007 Japanese film done in the style of a Spaghetti Western. The Younger Son suggested it. I had never heard of it before. This has lots of blood, which The Husband was not happy with.

is good fun, but constantly veering from violent melodrama to parody and back, the movie eventually becomes too much of a macaroni-pizza-pasta-spaghetti-chambara dish, too much at the same time to be anything in particular.

The New York Times calls it "a feast for genre fetishists, a loving and lurid pastiche of the spaghetti westerns that were themselves lurid pastiches of classic Hollywood cowboy pictures."

The Bloodshot Eye has some pictures and an article. Images Journal calls it "a masterpiece of '30s horror," says, "Laughton's performance is one of the great performances in the history of screen horror" and praises the "marvelous cinematography of Karl Struss" and "a wonderfully campy performance by Bela Lugosi". Brights Lights Film begs for a DVD release. Moria gives it 4 stars, praising the direction by Erle C. Kenton and discusses the sexual themes. 1000 Misspent Hours closes by praising Laughton, saying

Laughton seems to understand Moreau perfectly, and he plays him as a competent, sensible, clear-thinking man who just happens to have spent his life doing what the rest of the world would consider appalling and unspeakable things for absolutely no practical purpose. It’s an unsettling characterization, and it elevates Island of Lost Souls to a plateau that it might not otherwise have reached.

The New York Times review from the film's release says, "Although the attempt to horrify is not accomplished with any marked degree of subtlety, there is no denying that some of the scenes are ingenously fashioned and are, therefore, interesting."

Monday, May 17, 2010

Still Alice is the debut novel of Lisa Genova. I chose this book to read with a friend who has a particular interest in debut novels. It is currently popular with book clubs, so I thought it might lend itself well to discussion.

from the back cover:

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life —and her relationship with her family and the world— forever.

Ones I've read some/most/all of are in bold print. Since that's all but one of these, this list doesn't help me much for the summer. My list of SF series book for the summer follows:

Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks. I picked up Excession the other day. I still need Inversions and Matter.

Galactic Center Saga, by Gregory Benford. I've read the first 4 of this 6-book series, but just never made it back around to finishing. I have the last 2 books, but now I'm wondering if I'll need to re-read the others or if I'll be able to jump back into it.

Takeshi Kovacs Series, by Richard Morgan. I don't have any of this trilogy yet -though I could've sworn I had Altered Carbon around here somewhere- so I'll just have to see how this goes.

I plan to begin the WWW series by Robert Sawyer. I have the first book in this trilogy, but the 2nd is only now out in hardback.

I'm not reading any of them now. Right now I'm reading a Walker Percy novel with Still Alice by Lisa Genova being up next. So many books...

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a 1926 animated feature film by Lotte Reiniger. It features silhouette animation. Wikipedia says it's "the oldest surviving animated feature film". I think it's a joy to watch. I like her other work, also.

Watch it online at youtube without English subtitles, but it's an easy story to understand:

Saturday, May 15, 2010

We finished The Prisoner tv series tonight. It stars Patrick McGoohan. Two of the 3 other actors that appear multiple times are Angelo Muscat, who plays The Butler and is in 14 episodes, and Leo McKern, who plays Number Two in 3 episodes. McKern is a particular favorite around here.

Binx Bolling is a small-time stockbroker who lives quietly in suburban New Orleans, pursuing an interest in the movies, affairs with his secretaries, and living out his days. But soon he finds himself on a "search" for something more important, something that will measure and mark and hold his life forever against the passage of time. And one fateful Mardi Gras week, he finds it in a way, and with a woman, he would never have expected....

The Moviegoer deserves its status as a modern classic because Percy does not spare “modernity.” Nearly fifty years after the publication of this book, the names of the movies and movie stars have changed, but Binx Bolling’s spiritual despair is all too familiar.

Nothing is stated; everything is implied. The reader gets fragments of meaning and occasional glimpses of deep-rooted causes. Yet so expertly are these fragments fitted together and these glimpses sustained that Binx and Kate grow steadily in character throughout the book.

There is an overview of his film work at Senses of Cinema, which ends with this:

A cultural outsider with the determination, intuition and insight to move within several artistic and industrial circles simultaneously, Lye's films opened up space for an art of documentary and, alternately, the possibility of an accessible avant-garde. By inventing new ways of making films without a camera, expert knowledge or extensive equipment, he initiated a field of artisanal, self-sufficient screen practice that continues to grow and thrive. Importantly, his innovative modernist films reveal that experimental cinema can be a fun, ecstatic and pleasurable experience, self-rendering a cinema of limited means that is no less valuable.

Senses of Cinema also has an article on a talk Lye gave called The Absolute Truth of the Happiness Acid:

Happiness was important for Lye – he was essentially a happy person, and he worried that personal and international problems prevented others from sharing his attitude. When he developed his political/philosophical concept of 'Individual Happiness Now' in 1941 at the height of the war, he was hopeful that he could share 'the best in human experience' with others.

Lye also created kinetic sculptures and other works of art, some of which are pictured at The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, which "is home to the archives and studio collection of the Len Lye Foundation". Here is a photo of the Wind Wand taken from Get Down's Flickr page:

This is an excerpt from a documentary:

It includes Len Lye discussing and demonstrating his kinetic scultures.

Variety calls it "a nervously-humorous, self-conscious near satire on the prototype Clint Eastwood formula of the avenging mysterious stranger." Time Magazine does not like it. The New York Times gives it a positive review, describing it as "quite entertaining in a way that may make you wonder if you have lost your good sense". Images Journal names it one of 30 great westerns. It gets a rating of 96% at RottenTomatoes.com.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Daughter and I had supper on the patio of Mosa Asian Bistro. Though I took my camera and planned to take a picture, I forgot. The only other time I'd been here was for lunch before they had a patio, and The Daughter had never been. The patio had several tables, some with umbrellas, and was a pleasant place to eat.

The food was good. The Daughter ordered the white rice with green beans and mild seasoning, and that's what she got. I ordered the brown Hunan rice with medium seasoning and got white rice mild. It was good, just not what I ordered. We thought the waiter might be new.

The photo above is from the Mosa Facebook page and was taken before they added the patio, which is now to the right as you look at the restaurant.

The Basque History of the World is not so much a Basque history of the world as a history of the Basques from a Basque perspective. I've been interested in the Basque people since I first learned about their history, and this sympathetic book by Mark Kurlansky is fascinating.

from the back of the book:

Straddling a small corner of Spain and France in a land that is marked on no maps except their own, the Basques are a puzzling contradiction-they are Europe's oldest nation without ever having been a country. No one has ever been able to determine their origins, and even the Basques' language, Euskera-the most ancient in Europe-is related to none other on earth. For centuries, their influence has been felt in nearly every realm, from religion to sports to commerce. Even today, the Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence.

Mark Kurlansky's passion for the Basque people and his exuberant eye for detail shine throughout this fascinating book. Like Cod, The Basque History of the World blends human stories with economic, political, literary, and culinary history into a rich and heroic tale.

Moria gives it 3 stars and says, "the film is fairly much stolen by that grand old dame of the British theatre, Margaret Rutherford, who sweeps the whole show up with her daffy presence in the role of the medium." Variety praises the acting and the camera work.

Frank Frazetta has died. His paintings are what shaped my view of what fantasy should look like. I saw the first report at SandBoxWorld, but it looks like there are lots of reports. I'll post links to obits as I see them.

The Dupayne, a small private museum in London devoted to the interwar years 1919-1939, is in turmoil. The trustees -the three children of the museum founder, old Max Dupayne- are bitterly at odds over whether it should be closed. Then one of them is brutally murdered, and what seemed to be no more than a family dispute erupts into horror. For even as Commander Dalgliesh and his team investigate the first killing, a second corpse is discovered. Clearly, someone in the Dupayne is prepared to kill and kill again.

The case is fraught with danger and complications from the outset, not least because of the range of possible suspects -and victims. And still more sinister, the murders appear to echo the notorious crimes of the past featured in one of the musem's most popular galleries, the Murder Room.

For Dalgliesh, P.D. James's formidable detective, the search for the murderer poses an unexpected complication. After years of bachelorhood, he has embarked on a promising new relationship with Emma Lavenham -first introduced in Death in Holy Orders- which is at a critical stage. Yet his struggle to solve the Dupayne murders faces him with a frustrating dilemma: each new development distances him further from commitment to the woman he loves.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

A while back I came across 3 Kinky Friedman books in my favorite used book store, bought them all and read Elvis, Jesus & Coca-Cola. I liked that one but somehow am just now getting around to the next one. Armadillos & Old Lace, like the first one, features a character named Kinky Friedman. Also like the first one, this book just cries to be read aloud. I follow family members around quoting extensive passages, while they say, "Oh, yes, I remember the last time you read something by him." I laugh aloud while I'm reading and then hope someone comments on my laughter to give me an excuse to read that section to them. Delightful books, that's what they are. If you're not as lucky at the used book stores as I am, there's always Amazon.com, where this book is readily available.

from the back of the book:

Kinky Friedman is living proof that you can be a Texan, a New Yorker, a Jewish country and western singer and an amateur detective at the same time. But when New York City gets a little too full of murder and mayhem to suit him, Kinky heads for the fresh air of the Lone Star State - filtered of course, through his ever-present cigar. But something is rotten in the state of Texas too, and Kerrville's justice of the peace asks the Kinkster for his help. Four old ladies have died in the past few months, and though there's no apparent link, Judge Pat Knox is sure there's a connection. Before the case ends, Kinky will meet up with a rose growing survivalist, a swarm of angry bees, a swarm of eight year old buckaroos at his father's ranch and summer camp and, if he's not careful he may just meet up with his own untimely end.

what's best about "Armadillos" is Friedman's own struggle to make sense of the world around him, an effort that is sometimes boisterous and buffoonish, sometimes poignant and endearing. He's a cross between Holden Caulfield and Woody Allen, a Southern-fried Jew with an identity crisis as big as Texas and a heart to match.

The Internet Movie Data Base page describes it as "The last day of a love tale in a morbid post apocalyptic world." Twitchfilm says, "it was shot in the no-man's land between Israel and Jordan, and it uses the barren region as an incredibly effective setting". There's a Facebook page. Quiet Earth calls it a "beautifully shot little story".

But there's a celebration hosted over at Another Old Movie Blog that looks promising: Trains in the Movies. I found these lists of trains in film: this one is from the South Coast Railroad Museum; Trains Magazine has a list; Amtrak has a list of Top Train Movies.

Jeremy Bremen has a secret. All his life he's been cursed with the ability to read minds. He knows the secret thoughts, fears, and desires of others as if they were his own. For years, his wife, Gail, has served as a shield between Jeremy and the burden of this terrible knowledge. But Gail is dying, her mind ebbing slowly away, leaving him vulnerable to the chaotic flood of thought that threatens to sweep away his sanity.

Now Jeremy is on the run--from his mind, from his past, from himself--hoping to find peace in isolation. Instead he witnesses an act of brutality that propels him on a treacherous trek across a dark and dangerous America. From a fantasy theme park to the lair of a killer to a sterile hospital room in St. Louis, he follows a voice that is calling him to witness the stunning mystery at the heart of mortality.

Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store's owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li's family that he'll find the killer.

The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation - not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li's life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.

And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch's life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he's lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city's Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad's ferocity.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

A friend gave me a couple of books from this series by Michael Connelly, and they have made it to the top of the pile. I've already read Trunk Music (#5) and City of Bones (#8) from this same series and enjoyed them, and I also enjoyed The Overlook. It's #13 in the Harry Bosch series, and I can definitely see there would be an advantage in reading them in order. The woman I last saw as his wife is his ex-wife here.

Jazz music gets at least one mention in each of these books I've read, and the ones I remember in this book are

A body has been found on the overlook near Mulholland Drive. The victim, identified as Dr. Stanley Kent, has two bullet holes in the back of his head from what looks like an execution-style shooting. LAPD detective Harry Bosch is called out to investigate. It is the case he has been waiting for, his first since being recruited to the city's Homicide Special squad.

As soon as Bosch begins retracing Dr. Kent's steps, contradictions emerge. While Kent doesn't seem to have had ties to organized crime, he did have access to dangerous radioactive substances from just about every hospital in Los Angeles County. What begins as a routine homicide investigation opens up before Bosch into something much larger, more dangerous - and much more urgent.

Breaking in a new rookie partner and chasing his first fresh case in years, Bosch is soon in conflict not just with the LAPD brass but also with FBI hotshots who are convinced that the case is too important for the likes of the LAPD. Harry's onetime lover Rachel Walling is among the federal agents frantically working the case, making Bosch's job all the more complicated. Guarding one slim advantage, he relentlessly follows his own instincts, hoping they are still true enough to solve the crime - and to save all of Los Angeles from a deadly hazard.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

They have a nest on the patio next door, and this sparrow makes noise from dawn 'til setting sun. I can't see the nest and don't know at what stage the eggs are, but I do know this bird keeps a close watch on us. That spot on the fence just under the downspout is his favorite perch.

Outliers is a 2010 short film. This site reports: "one of St. Ours' recent projects, a seven minute short called "Outliers," is an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival." They list Lucas Krost as the director. The 48 Hour Film Project has a web site that lists tour dates.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

The Younger and Elder Sons were both home tonight, and The Elder Son picked a film he thought we might enjoy but that he knew The Husband and The Daughter would not like. Mr. Brooks is a 2007 psychological thriller starring Kevin Costner, William Hurt, Demi Moore and Dane Cook.

trailer:

Variety calls it a "suspense thriller with a smirk". The New York Times calls it "A werewolf movie masquerading as a thriller" and says, "If it is not as sadistic as the “Saw” and “Hostel” movies, it is as malignant in its insistence on the omnipresence of evil." Of the director, the New Yorker says, "Evans will never be Hitchcock, but he produces enough pleasurable tension to send the plausibles into a frenzy of disapproval." DVDTalk concludes that it's

more about the psychology of a murderer - about a man with a healthy, well-balanced life who's quietly compelled to kill - rather than an excuse to string together a bunch of the usual thriller theatrics. Mr. Brooks isn't a great movie, no, but it's intriguing enough to be worth seeing at least once.

Mr. Brooks is bad in countless fundamental ways—it's not thrilling, not incisive, not altogether coherent, and not particularly well shot—and yet there's nonetheless something cheesy-delicious about its lack of inhibition...

Look to Windward is a book in the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. I do love this series, and I can't tell you how much I wish I had just bought the books as they came out instead of dilly-dallying around looking for them in local used book stores. That's all water under the bridge now -although another expression might be better considering the disaster Tennesseans are undergoing. I'll be buying them as they come out from now on. I have also read Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Use of Weapons.

from the back of the book:

Eight hundred years after the most horrific battle of the Idiran war, light from its catastrophic, worlds-destroying detonations is about to reach to Masaq' Orbital, home to the far-flung Culture's most adventurous and decadent souls. There it will fall upon Masaq's 50 billion inhabitants, gathered to commemorate the deaths of the innocent and to reflect, if only for a moment, on what some call the Culture's own complicity in the terrible event.

Also journeying to Masaq' is Major Quilan, an emissary from the war-ravaged world of Chel. In the aftermath of the conflict that split his world apart, most believe he has come to Masaq' to bring home Chel's most brilliant star, the self-exiled celebrity Composer Ziller.

Ziller suspects Quilan has come to murder him, but the major's true assignment will have far greater consequences than the death of a mere political dissident. He is part of a conspiracy more ambitious than he can know -- a mission his superiors have buried so deeply in his mind that even he cannot remember it.

SFSite says "it is one of Banks' finest novels, mature, considered, horrifying and hilarious by turns" and "one of the most significant SF novels of the year." Infinity Plus calls it "a satisfying read but at the same time, a deeply frustrating novel." The Guardian and the New York Times each has a review.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the massacre at Kent State in 1970. I was in junior high school and clearly remember the shock. I date a lot of my political sensibilities from this event.

NPR has a retrospective, interviews and a slide show. USA Today has an article observing the anniversary:

That was Kent State University, May 4, 1970, a few days after Richard Nixon, who'd campaigned for president on an implicit promise to end the war, widened it by invading Cambodia. Across the nation, students protested. At Kent State, where two days earlier the ROTC building was burned down, National Guardsmen fired into a crowd and killed four unarmed students, the closest of whom was nearly a football field away.

and compares it to student activity today:

Unlike Vietnam, the wars America now fights have never really come home. Students don't worry about getting drafted. The campus anti-war group is inactive. The big cause is Haiti, the big issue the cost and availability of parking.

Torey Wootton, now a freshman, wants to lie in one of those sites, to understand what her uncle Paul Ciminero felt on that warm and sunny day 40 years ago as he stood watching Jeffrey Miller, a fellow student, die in that spot. Mr. Miller was shot in the mouth by a National Guardsman. ...And until she graduates, Ms. Wootton will follow the advice her parents, both Kent State alumni, gave her when she left for college. “We don’t want to see you in the news,” they said, “and we don’t want to see you get shot.”

The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre, occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. Four students were killed and nine others wounded. The students were protesting the American invasion of Cambodia which President Richard Nixon launched on April 25, and announced in a television address five days later.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

/film notes that "It is easy to draw comparisons between this short and Cameron’s later work." JamesCameronOnline says,

Rumor has it that Cameron spent a half-a-day dismantling the rented 35mm camera package just so he could understand how to run it. Cameron co-wrote, directed, edited, designed the sets and even did all of the camerawork. Self taught in the field, Cameron created most of the special effects himself on the cheap.